"Everyone should have a code to live by... Mine is CARBON Based."
These are the logs of Capt. Turamarth Elrandir.
A Minmatar starship pilot in the Empires and Outlands of EVE...

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The Ultimate Grief…

~or, “Is it Possible that Troll Dimsdale is Right…?”

[Empyrean Empires Part 1]

First off,
this is just one non Industry player layman’s view of the coming Industry
Changes. I’m not interested in how these changes impact Industry per se, but
how they impact the players and the various playstyles in EVE Online… and yea…
you heard me right, I’m wondering if Dimsdale Pirannha, that HORRID little
single minded conspiracy laden troll might possibly just be just a little teeny
tiny bit right.

If you don’t
know who Dimsdale (actually Dinsdale) Pirannha is, go to Jester’s Trek and search
his name, but take an anti-nausea pill first. He is a raging anti-goon who believes
that some CCP Devs, and by extension CCP’s Executives, and the leadership of
the CFC/GSF are actually acting in collusion to assist and support the total
takeover of the game by the CFC et al, and in addition CCP supports, or at the
very least knowingly looks-the-other-way as the CFC et al engage in all but
blatant RMT. He goes so far as to make allusions to people paying their
mortgages with said RMT income… IMHO he
is a troll and worse, due to being blinded by his bias, he is an idiot.

So obviously
I don’t mean I am beginning to believe his conspiracy theories about CCP and
any dark, nefarious skype-back-channel collusion with the Ebil RMTing Gewns™… I
am, however, starting to wonder if mebbe, just mebbe the former Goons CCP has
hired as Devs are actually not working in the best interests of ALL of the
playerbase, but in the interests of Nullsec players only… and if CCP also truly
believes the best future path for this great game is a Totally Player Based Content
game… to remove NPC interaction, to remove CONCORD, to eventually have the
entire game boil down to just one playstyle… Empyrean Empires.

I have to
admit, no matter how I look at it, the latest Dev Blogs showcasing the coming changes
to Industry really seem to be changes specifically directed at enhancing only
one playstyle... and that playstyle is Sov Null… and, for that reason I think
it’s dangerous to the game as a whole and, TBH I dunt like it one bit.

Marlona Sky,
in his Coalition
Sov Mapping, under Latest
Data, lists 7 primary Coalitions that hold more than 1 system in Sov Null; CFC,
N3, Stain Wagon, PL, Provi Bloc, xXDeathXx & H.E.R.O. (Black Pearl Alliance
holds 1 system). These 7 coalitions and their Leadership are the Sov Holders in
the 35 Regions of Sov Nullsec. They make and enforce the rules and those rules
go far beyond anything CONCORD does… as such Sov Null is, for the membership of
these entities, far safer than ANY other space in the game, period.

Great Wars
notwithstanding, it is well known that Sov Nullsec, under these mere 7 Coalitions,
is more directly and closely controlled and 'policed' than Hisec, Losec or
W-space. Players have really only 2 choices in Sov Null… join a corp/Alliance
that is controlled by one of the Coalitions, or… oh, uh… nope, sorry, just ONE option,
join a Coalition allied corp/Alliance or fuck you… If you don’t believe me, just
try taking your corp or Alliance into Sov Null and make a home for yourself
without joining one of the Null Coalitions… go try and take advantage of these
great new highly profitable changes to Industry ON YOUR OWN… yea, go ahead, see
what happens.

CCP has
often repeated the statement that it supports All playstyles in EVE. If even
one of those oft repeated statements is true then CCP also wants ALL playstyles
to reap higher rewards in higher risk space, but I am thinking mebbe they are
not how they say they are.

This is, for
me, the key issue here… The only playstyle that is rewarded in Null is the
large group, in actuality, the Very Large Group. Small un-coalinged Alliances
and unallied corps and solo playstyles are locked out of these higher rewards.
Locked out completely… If their gameplay does not include subsuming their
players/corps/Alliances, and in effect submitting to the larger Coalitions and
their rules and playstyles then it’s just FU.

What scares
me the most is that I think possibly Ripard Teg feels the same way... he says,
“Because in the long-term grand scheme of
things, this view of EVE is the correct one and it's more healthy for the game.” Oh crap. That’s true
ONLY for the Sov Nullsec playstyle, not for any of the playerbase that have no
desire to EVER play the nullsec game, or to take knee to the Nullsec
Coalitions.

He even goes
so far as to title his post on this subject, Traitor which means
he fully understands the highly overall negative impact this change will have
on Hisec and Lowsec Industry and hence how ALL the players who prefer to play
in those spaces will see him, a CSM member elected on an ALL Playstyles
Platform, as a traitor to their gameplay. He goes so far as to state
unequivocally, “Did I raise a major
objection to this at the Summit? Call me a traitor if you must, but no I did
not.” What I want to know is if he, or anyone on the CSM, voiced ANY
objection at all… and if so, what CCP’s response was. He KNOWS this is a “go to Null or accept a much shittier game”
from now on for a helluva lot of players.

I now wonder
if he truly believes in the sandbox ideal at all… that, as he has repeatedly
stated, ALL playstyles are important and ALL playstyles should be viable and
supported in EVE Online. This last post make me think he doesn’t really believe
that anymore, if he ever really did… or, is it possible he is not running for
CSM9 because he realized CCP doesn’t? and there’s nothing he or anyone can do
about it.

In what
amounts almost to a tongue in cheek nod to Dimsdale, he says… “…it's a pretty damn good bet that
manufacturing is going to be cheaper in null-sec as well. Particularly since --
*shudder* -- it's CCP Greyscale working on that.”… The thing we have
to remember about Mr. Teg is… he is, in the end a Nullsec player. Not a Hisec
Industrialist, not a Lowsec FW pilot, and most definitely not a Wormholer… he
flies and fights in NPC Nullsec and that is the game he knows and likes best. I
am now of the opinion that he believes Nullsec is THE way the game is best
played, the way it SHOULD be played… by everyone.

Mord Fiddle,
of Fiddler’s Edge, has stating
he is unsubbing directly due to the direction this Expansion is taking. In his
post, That'll
Do, He says, “For myself, I cannot
continue to support a game in which my monthly subscription dollars are used
to benefit a small subset of the EVE player base, both financially and in
terms of quality of play, to the detriment of all others.”

I have asked
Mord to reconsider leaving until after the Expansion actually hits, to not jump
ship based on 2 Dev posts alone… wait until the proof is in the code as twere.
For myself, I am not an Industrialist an I don’t live and work in Empire space
and, excepting how it impacts the costs of ships, mods, etc. and the prices I
get for my Sleeper Lewt, Salvage & PI prods, which is very important I’ll
grant… I am not really interested in how Industry actually works, it’s just not
a big part of my playstyle.

But… as it
impacts the WHOLE of New Eden is very important to me. How changes like this
could lead, one day to the Nullsec Coalitions, having taken over all of Empire
space, turning their full attention at last on the truly deadliest space in all
EVE… Negsec, Wormhole space, and THAT will be the day several things will
happen…

1. I will
unsub… not that like Mord, in itself it will mean much to anyone except my
friends and those of you who have found something worthwhile, or at least
enjoyable, here… but it will mean a helluvalot to me… and

2. The Goons
will have fulfilled their Mission Statement… “We're not here to destroy THE game, we're here to destroy YOUR game.”

One thing to
seriously think about that highly misleading Mission Statement is… if the Goons
see ALL of us, CCP included, as the people they are out to destroy… then, for them,
to Win at EVE is to own all of space, drive out anyone not-them and, in the end…
possibly… to do something that will bring them one final and everlasting piece of E-fame…
to have greifed a Real World company into failscading.

I too have hopes for POS Industry... but, as I said, my take on all of this is more about how CCP is leaning, or being pushed (CCP Greyscale) in a Nullcentric gameplay direction and I feel this is not, as Ripard seem to feel, in the best interest of the game as a whole... CCP needs to expand is playerbase and available supported playstyles... not narrow them.

As any industry I've ever done has been 90% POS based I'm thinking it'll be okay. I can see small scale industry, particularly T2 manufacture, being fine in high sec and the main barrier to new player entry has been removed (pissing off loads of people). I can see that bulky and mass produced stuff might have to move to null, but are they going to sell it all there? What happens to trade? Good luck with the logistics of moving it out of the arse end of nowhere. That might swing in the favour of large POS manufacture in high sec. Having said that, I've not been doing much industry for a while (or for another long while but that's an amusing upcoming story involving Forsaken Asylum).

The price CCP will pay is yet again in their chronic mismanagement of PR. Reveal half a message or a misleading message that enrages half the player base. They've done it before. Good move. I can only think that they get some form of gain from this that we don't see "There's no such thing as bad publicity" maybe. It can't be coincidence that they lurch from one PR disaster to another. I think it's catching too. That's where Jesters new habit of throwing molotov cocktail conversation starters has come from. I'm waiting till all the dev blogs on the changes are out.

As for Dinsdale - it's an epic troll. The best conspiracy theories are the ones that manipulate peoples existing fears using facts strung together into an alternate narrative. I'm sure Spiny Norman the Hedgehog will be along soon and then all will become clear.

Regarding the loss of Mord Fiddle. This was actually the worst thing so far about the industry changes. Additionally if what he predicts comes to pass then I'll be done too, because, fuck null, it just doesn't fit my playstyle as far as I can see and that would be a shame.

What very little production Industry I have done was all POS based and mainly making POS fuel in th hole... I've never 'made' a ship or a module... I think I once or twice ran,or assisted with a few ammo batches...I have refined ores in POS... but literally, that's is. Strigon was our Indy guy until Mabrick joined us. We even ran 2 POSes in the C6, Bastion... One to live in and one just for Industry, but that was Mab's baby, I think I only warped to it like twice, just to see it.

I am much more concerned with where CCP is taking us... I am starting to worry it is basically a The Player can be ALL of the Content (saving them the work) scenario they envision... They seem to be setting the stage for the fall of the Empires and even possibly the fall of CONCORD... and the way things work in Null, I want NO part of ever.

But, like you I have a wait and see attitude... we're only 2 posts in, I need more info first.

And I am worried that the Something Awful Clan really just might see griefing CCP into failure as hilarious... they have no loyalty and the great scams and lies are right up their alley...

I can handle CCP tilting the table toward the null-sec end. I can. however, if the tip is too great, and in my mind that is 50% of non-capital construction moving to null-sec, then CCP would need to rebalance the table back.

However, I seriously feel that the enormous changes implemented all at once, will slam the table top nearly vertical at the start, and by the time CCP tries to pull the table flatter, there is nothing left to slide back.

I'm not going to pull a Mord. I will wait and read all the dev posts and see exactly what the slope will be like. I don't intent to slide off the table. If I see that table will be nearly vertical, I will unsub.

Actually, while I really don't think Null is the highest risk space in the game, due to the level of safety the Coalitions are able to enforce, and hence the rewards there should be balanced with that in mind... but that said, I do not have any issue with CCP making sweeping changes to the game occasionally.

RL is not static, change, even great change, is the norm and change drive innovation and keeps things interesting... for all involved.

But when the changes are heavily in favor of just one playstyle, and to a large degree brought about or pushed for by former Goons who are now CCP Devs... well, I think CCP needs to take a serious look at how the Something Awful Clan has acted and much that has been said and done by them that works against the game as a whole.

I will probably not unsub as long as W-Space remains a bastion of small gangs... and the market doesn't get trashed by Goon manipulation... but let them change wormholes so players can manipulate holes duration, mass limits or spawns or if Goons et al ever really make a bid to take over W-space and yea... I'll for sure unsub.

The way I see it, the major organized blocks have put CCP into a position where they can be effectively extorted. CCP have to play to the nullsec crowd to some extent or be threatened with major unsubscription amounts. CCP could take that as a gambit and risk sacrificing those subscriptions to draw in new players instead. For that to work, CCP would have to find a way to open up their game for a new player demographic, and so far they have failed at doing that.

I have wondered if the Something Awful Klan have ever actually made any veiled, or even outright threats to that effect... not that CCP would ever under any circumstances tell us about it... but one does wonder.

But, whether or not they have, CCP needs to open new playstyles and new/changed content for existing playstyles. WiS was one such extremely badly mismanaged major opportunity. DUST hasn't lived up to the hype, meaning the hype was badly managed too... As Noob said, CCP just keeps on stomping on their dick in PR... when OH when will they ever learn?

Whiole we wait on The Gates to Better Worlds feature (I always hear the Operative's voice there...) CCP needs to Dev a few minor jezuz features and I sure hope to the gods they are not waiting for the players to create all the content from now on... Content in EVE should be, it MUST be, a combination of Emergent and Scripted gameplay.

And Risk vs Reward in Broken in Sov Nullsec and needs to be rebalanced...

What a real shame if one group, with loyalties firmly outside of EVE and even it seems, at odds w/ CCP, have that much power over CCP. I think the 'Goon born', Reddit, Something Awful, etc. forum creche born EVE players are the worst thing that has happened to this great game.

Them as what follow me...

Graphiti...

Round and round we go...

Fav Post Bytes...

"Maybe we're not that different after all and I have my own reality to get to grips with."Absence of Substance

Now THAT is wisdom...

We are, each and alone, the absolute center of our subjective 'verse... this is the way of life.To see another's POV as if it were your own... this is the way of truth...To allow that some others have POVs you cannot and will never understand, and yet accept them as they are, this is the way of acceptance...To kill them all without rancor or anger, but in brotherhood... this is the way of EVE.

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